title: A study of clinicopathologic profile of 15 cases of hypopigmented mycosis fungoides.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Mycosis fungoides (MF) is cutaneous lymphoma of the T-cell lineage. Hypopigmented MF is a clinical variant of MF, described mainly in Asians. This is a retrospective clinicopathologic analysis of hypopigmented MF at a tertiary care center.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To describe the clinicopathologic profile of hypopigmented MF.
  
  
  METHODS
  Records of clinicopathologic notes over a 5-year period ranging from January 2005 up to December 2009 were reviewed over a period of 3 months, of which 15 cases were diagnosed with hypopigmented MF based on clinicopathologic correlation.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Hypopigmented MF was found to be more common in males, and between second and fourth decades of life. The latent period between onset and diagnosis was around 3.83 years. Most of the patients were asymptomatic 80% (12/15), with skin changes of subtle atrophy in 46.66% (7/15), scaling in 20% (3/15) and focal changes of poikiloderma in 26.66% (4/15) patients. Most common sites of distribution of the lesions were the trunk and extremities. Many of the cases had been clinically mistaken for Hansen's disease prior to correct diagnosis. Marked epidermotropism and tagging of epidermis by large lymphocytes characterizes the condition histopathologically. Of the 15 cases, immunohistochemistry was possible in 10 cases, of which 8 showed predominant CD8 positive epidermotropic infiltrates and two cases showed absence of CD8 positive and CD4 positive lymphocytic infiltrate in the epidermis.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Hypopigmented MF presents as hypopigmented asymptomatic patches without any erythema or infiltration in its early stage and mimics Hansen's disease. Skin biopsy clinches the diagnosis.
authors.affiliation: Department of Dermatology, Seth GS Medical College and KEM Hospital, Parel, Mumbai-400 012, India. drkhopkar@gmail.com
authors.forename: Uday
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Khopkar
authors.forename: Bhavana R
authors.initials: BR
authors.lastname: Doshi
authors.forename: Atul M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Dongre
authors.forename: Sumeet
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Gujral
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D002648:Child; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D017496:Hypopigmentation / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000473:pathology*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009182:Mycosis Fungoides / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000473:pathology*; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012878:Skin Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000473:pathology*; D055815:Young Adult